And Then The Sun Set
by SimplyUnmistakable
Summary: Hyuuga is Sun. Sun is light. Light is eyes. She shall call herself no Hyuuga no more.
1. Sunshine's requiem

The sensation of pain has this immediate effect of telling the mind to move your hand towards the hurt place of your body, even if that, usually, causes you more pain, whether physical or more.

Needless to say, as soon as she becomes conscious again (and the burn of an open wound might be what did the trick), Hinata's hand reaches for her face, with the kind of puzzling fear only the ones knowing themselves in a truly mad situation can fully understand. The touch of torn flesh and fresh blood manages to bring to her that _more pain_ mentioned above. And it is not the physical side that hurts most.

When one does wake up realizing they're hurt, their hand reaches for the hurt place because, even though the brain knows it shall bring more pain somehow, it wants to check what kind of pain is that - if it's a treatable pain, then it's a treatable wound. Now, if you reach for a wound that hurts badly, but doesn't seem too deep to make you worrisome, you can sigh relieved - that would heal. If you reach for it and find a rather deep wound, you are rather cautious, but can still have hope - that would eventually heal, too. But what if you reach your hand and find nothing of an addition to the skin, but something missing? Like reaching your hand to find your arm has been amputated - that would not heal. That creates pain that goes deeper in the flesh than any wound can.

She touches the upper side of her face to find them there, but they are as good as gone - she knows that from the very first moment. Her body is otherwise in a good condition, the _that would eventually heal_ type of good state. But, that very moment, scars cut deep in her heart and rationality. And she gets up, not feeling the other wounds on her body anymore, while trying to ignore the ones in the eyes. She wants to move ahead, but she doesn't know where. She barely knows where is that place where she fell earlier, but what she knows is that is a place far from home. That there are trees. That there is a river. That there are bodies all around her - she fell down as a victor, but did it worth the price?

And she could not see the road ahead of her, but, right in that moment, she could visualize every single road she had ever walked before. The realize of her life being changed forever wholly brought back the years of life she went through that far - seventeen years, more precisely. Her preoccupations and her fears. And it all suddenly seemed so unimportant, so frugal, compared to the present.

As she stood up, wondering about her surroundings, trying to remake the overall image of the place, as she had last seen it, before the great impact to take her sight, the horror grew bigger and bigger, interweaving with her past insecurities, that were now no longer creeping in, but growing visibly on and extending all on her skin, it felt like. And the mix grew and grew, until reality could hold it no longer - and it exploded. Its remaining dissipated in the air. And she felt down. She fell back down, this time on her knees, on the exact same spot she had made efforts to get up from, earlier.

And while the pain in the eyes made it impossible to realize it at the beginning, tears could still get formed, inside of there. She did not fell them when they formed, not even when they ran down her frozen cheeks, but when they got further, in her open palms - palms she did not remember opening, or the reason she opened them for.

A sound of steps made her fully aware she was not safe and sound at all yet. She stood up instantly, concerned, instinctively putting her body in a defensive pose - as if she could really fight for herself... But what was the alternative? Letting herself get killed while on her knees? That much pride did the - until not long ago - possible heir of the Hyuuga family still hold. But what purpose did she have any longer? Hyuuga is Sun. Sun is light. Light is eyes. She shall call herself no Hyuuga - no more.

"Hinata-sama?"

At the sound of that particular voice, her hands fell from their straight pose. They fell down, like the ones of a puppet having its strings cut.

She could not see her cousin's reaction, now that he had a proper chance to study her wholly, but she couldn't blame him for being speechless during the next minute. But there was no sign he would _ever_ say something. Instead (although she did not hear him moving), she felt his arms catching her, with the intention of carrying her.

"I lost two eyes, not two legs," she said then sharply, and she couldn't recognize her usual safe in that voice, in that clear bitterness, as she pushed him away - although rather gently than violently.

She heard him say nothing again, but she guessed he understood - she felt the need to stand for herself at least that much as to carry her badly injured body. She did not even accept a single hand as guidance.

So they walked slowly home, none of them talking. She was simply following the chakra of her cousin - it was one she got to recognize well over the years. Whether he was wondering for explanation of how all that might have happened or not, he asked nothing. And she was grateful. He was also aware, she knew, that many explanations would be required once they got home. So he just allowed for her to think things through herself, until they were there. And that's what she did - over and over.

* * *

**A/N:** _I thought of writing this while recalling a drawing I had seen time ago (don't ask me why it got back to my mind after all of this time). Well, in the image, Hinata was in the hospital. Sakura was taking off bandages from her eyes. The artist also made, in the corner, an image of a blurry Sakura, as Hinata saw her. It seemed that Hinata had had an operation, but was now ok. Now, the story won't really go like that. But I just thought - what if _**she loses them at all_..._**


	2. Where Did The Light Go?

A clear sign that this couldn't be real is that people around her said absurd things. And if it was real, if they actually meant what they said, Hinata wished she hadn't made the effort of staying alive.

Neji came to visit that day and that was how she found out. She guessed she would have been told, eventually. Or maybe not... And the first question that came to her mind was if Neji was telling her about it for it was unfair for things to be done behind her back or to throw it in her face, how outrageous things could happen for the well of the Main Family. But she tended to think it was the first. She could not see him, but she knew him well enough - he could always hide the reasons for it, but not clear wrath in his face and voice. And his speech was clear.

"They cannot do that," she replied. Her voice was not made to sound firm, but this time it sounded much like it.

"I cannot comment on that," was all he said. And it sounded a lot like, '...but if I could...'.

"But _I_ will," she said and, in her otherwise thin voice, he found something of sharpness, equal to the one with which she had refused being helped to walk - a proud stubbornness he had never seen in her before.

He had seen slight stubbornness in Hinata before, growing with every day of training, with every time she got up after collapsing, weakly, somehow shyly fearfully saying they _had to_ continue. But those could rather be translated as 'Trust me, I'll _try_,' while, these other times, it was, clearly, 'Trust me, I'll _do_'.

She could not know that, but, at that moment, Neji was looking at her with a mild curiosity and wonder. After so many years in which he either did not care or did not find it appropriate, he now started to wonder what it was really like, in her mind, her _vision_ of all these things around them and he wished - because there had been a lot of chances to do it - he wished he had tried to find out.

Because, right now, he looked at her and found it that he had and still missed a lot from beneath the surface.

* * *

You'd think that trying your hardest, giving it all and even more would mean something. You'd think that they'd realize what had been wrong and what should be right. What there was to be done and what should not ever be repeated. But the world does not mostly work like that. It rather crawls back, repeating the old mistakes, over and over. The saddest part, no one ever realizes it - until the old consequences of the old mistakes get back to them, too.

And so it happened that saving the world was not enough to gain its respect. Proving your power as greater than any other does not come with respect towards your work. It comes with fear. It comes with greater glares than before, instead of cheers. If they had been afraid when they knew you held that power you had no idea of and couldn't control, did things change in good once they know you have that power in your control and could dispose of it anytime. No.

There is something in humanity that's hard to understand. They can mask sadness. They can mask happiness. They can mask anything but distaste and dislike. They might say it's all fine, but their eyes' irises get little and their mouths show a grimace instead of a smile. And you can see it clearly.

After the Fourth Ninja War, Naruto's life did not suddenly raised to the greatest. Sure, right after the war, people cheered, of course, at the sight of this young man who had taken a great threat off their shoulders. But, on a second thought, was this young one as powerful as they said he was? And, if he was that powerful, can anyone be sure he'd always be on their side. Because, anytime a power like that arises, you need to be aware.

So that, as much as Naruto had always wanted for Konoha to properly be his home, for people to really accept him and for him to love people in there so much as to give his life for them, things were not that milk and honey. Of course, now he was paid respect, but people were not really respecting him, but that who he had been on the battlefield. He had yet to be wanted he was merely accepted - not as someone who they liked to know it was there, but just as someone they'd rather have there than not. No one was mean to him anymore, but their kindness was not from the heart, their words were not meant, and Naruto was not the one to not realize these things. He was still his usual self, still faking carelessness, but not so willing to continue it as he had once been.

So that, one day, leaning quietly over the balcony, watching people passing the streets, he was feeling tired. Not tired in body. Not even in mind. But tired in a sense he'd never known before. It was not the kind of tiredness that kept him wanting to keep on trying. This time, he yearned for a pause. He was sick. He yearned to find something more. Maybe...

He remembered about Jiraiya. And he felt that urge to do what the old man had once done - take a backpack and go travelling. Look for what he wanted to find, whatever that was supposed to be. Jiraiya had not managed to find that something during his journey. Maybe he would. Afterall, he had been left this job - find the answer, whatever the question was.

Later that day, leqaving just a sheet of paper, announcing his absense for an unlimited period of time, in Tsunade's mail pile (at the top, so that his absense become legal soon enough, but just after he'd be already left), he was out of Konoha, without having said goodbye to anyone.

Tsunade would have found the reasons to stop him, so that he had preferred to avoid that meeting. Sakura was so busy lately, in her work ambitions, that she had barely spoke to any friend of hers, lately - why bother? Kakashi was retired and had gone bad into alcohol - the Obito story really had taken away the best of him. Sasuke had not come back to Konoha, even after fighting by their side - not heard of him ever since. And everyone else... they did not matter even that much at the moment.

* * *

"I don't want this," Hinata told him, as soon as she aknowledged his presence. Of course, her father was not casually visiting her - it took for her to keep questioning everyone she could, for this to happen. Her voice was not strong in front of him. Not at all. Not seeing him still did not help with that. Her protest sounded like a silly child's one.

"I don't understand the problem, Hinata," he responded bluntly. Hinata could imagine him standing tall, with dignity. She did not hear him taking a seat - clearly not intending to stay long.

"I don't want the eyes," she said once more. Her voice was still weak, but at least managed to sound irritated.

"But you will have them," he replied rigidly.

"I don't want to! I'll take nobody's eyes!"

"No heiress can stay blind," Hiashi argued sharply, his tone remaining at the same levels.

"Then why? I was never a heiress - the clean truth," she rather whispered than spoke - so weak, her voice, this time.

"This is no one's choice - so better start behaving as one," he closed the subject. She heard him stepping away. The door closed - she was alone. Well, clearly, it would not be_ his_ choice for her to be the heiress...

What had 'stealing' someone else's eyes to do with being a leader? However they wanted to refer to this, she refused to accept that this kind of sacrifice should be a duty of any member of her clan. Having someone living with this disability just because she was the heiress... this was even more grotesque than giving one's life for the sake of hers. And she refused to let it happen. But what power did she have now, when, clearly, she had barely ever had any...

* * *

It happened too fast. And at night. And they still searched for what or who had started it all. And it spread immediately. But the material damages were left to be discussed later. There were damages far greater than that. Because fire spreading through dozens of rooms in which many disabled persons lived - paralyzed, coma... People who cannot defend themselves from anything. Now, that is damage. That is to be cried after.

Of course, Water users were immediately called upon. Water Release Jutsu were used continuously for several hours. Evacuations have been made. But the damages still existed. People were still missing.

Having checked the hospital for countless times, during the fire and after it had been gone, Hyuugas were now spread through the crowd of people standing outside the hospital, using their eyes to scan the surroundings. With no results in none, they then started asking around. If they couldn't, then someone must have seen something, heard something.

"Yes, yes, indeed, that blind pretty woman - I've seen her," an old man was saying gently, sustaining his severally wrinkled body's weight by a thick wooden walking stick.

"Yes, indeed," he continued in a characteristic long-winded way of any old man, "I remember, yes. This young lady... See... I am walking down the hall, walking from my therapy - going to sleep. And this pretty lady - dark haired, bandage over her eyes - walks out her room - nr. 300, just as you said. And she says, 'Did anyone else hear this?' And I and the medic just stare at her, wondering what it is all about. And she says, 'It was a strange sound, like a fuse, or maybe a lint'. But we have no idea. But ,still, we walk to the room. Check the place, in the room and out the window - the medic does. And she says, 'No, miss, nothing'. But the girl goes on, 'No, listen, I can hear it now'. But I cannot hear anything. Though, I am old - I may not hear much. But the medic hears nothing as well. And the young woman insists - says she refuses to remain in the room. 'Good,' the medic can't do nothing about it. And when we walk out - she walks with us, to be taken to the director to discuss the problem - it happens. It explodes, the place. And it explodes there. And it also explodes somewhere else, we hear. But not any kind of explosion - nothing blows up, no. Just fire spreads with the sound - strange fire, I'm telling you. Been ninja for seventy years - never seen such fire before...," the old man shook his head.

So, then, that was how the fire had started. Had it been on purpose, to kill the heiress, or anything else? And how came that Hinata heard that sound that alarmed her?

"And what happened with the blind girl afterwards?" the Hyuuga man asked the old man.

"Oh, well, we went out together, as far as I remember it," the old man raised his shoulders. "She was out the hospital somewhere. But I lost sight of her," he added sadly.

The man saluted the old person and thanked, going to report the news to the others.

But, other many hours later, there was still no trace of her. And the only explanation there could be thought of: it was a trick for the heiress to be kidnapped. But who? Why? (surely not for any eyes).

And so the search was directed to out the village.


	3. No light at the end of the tunnel

Tsunade had been shouting orders, picking that scroll up, handing off another one, signing this and putting that aside, when her hands suddenly stopped their fast movements to hold one specific sheet of paper positioned just close enough to read it clearest. Her mouth shut, and her lips straightened in a thin line.

The people who had been walking in and out the office, bringing or taking documents, coming with questions or answers, paused and stared at their Hokage who, for more than five minutes, remained in that exact position, her eyes wandering up and down that page in her hands several times. At some point, realizing she'd been watched, snapped, "Let me guess- you're all done with what I asked?" Everybody looked away in an instant and the movement started once again.

"You!" Tsunade demanded loudly.

A young man looked cautiously to his left, and then to his right, hopeful - no, it was him, the one she addressed.

"You are part of the Human Resources Management department, aren't you?"

"Yes, madame," the man saluted respectfully, trying to keep his other hand steady, as it was now holding alone to the massive package he was supposed to deliver at the other side of the village.

"Here," she handed him the paper that had earlier caused her awe. "Have this registered."

The man took the paper without looking at it and, saluting once again, walked out the room. But Tsunade knew very well that checking it out would be the first thing he'd do as soon as the door closed. Human curiosity can be a dangerous thing. But, well, this time only, she hoped for it to come to her aid. Because curiosity leads to secrets revealed. And secrets revealed leads to gossip. And gossip is something unstoppable. Now, before sunset, everyone in the village should know Uzumaki Naruto had left for a while, without her to say a thing.

Tsunade was not the stupid one to not realize what had been going on inside that boy's mind, lately. She could understand he needed some time away from all this. It was just the 'unlimited' part that put her at ease.

Yes, she was afraid that Konoha might lose him. Not to think that Naruto could ever betray Konoha - _no_. Still, she feared that he would lose his motivation to change the world. She feared that the unconditional love for which he had mostly received nothing in return would cease to exist, replaced by frank indifference. He would not touch a leaf in the head of a still childlike ignorant village, but he could get to just watch it crumble before his eyes, for he would eventually get tired of spreading his wings to protect something so ungrateful.

That night, Tsunade finished her sake bottle thinking there was nothing else that Konoha could be as stupid as to lose. Later that same night, it was announced that the hospital was on fire and the Hyuuga heiress was nowhere to be found.

Crushing the bottle with her bare hands as she stood up, she thought that her Hokage life turned out to be a lot like the gambling one - loss, loss... and odds never in her favor.

* * *

The search went on; results have been none and any hopes of having any ticked away just like the passing time. Needless to say, more Konoha ninja were assembled every day. Words were sent to allies, for any information on what they had. There was not anyone missing, but the heiress of one of the most powerful clans in Konoha.

To be frank, the non-Konoha ninja (and even some disrespectful ones in the village) secretly laughed, at first, hearing how the very great Konoha couldn't even find a blind girl. Now, let's be serious, there were no eyes one could sought to study, alright? And if she would have been taken for something to be asked in return, words would have been sent right away. So, obviously, the girl (hear that? just a silly 'heiress' girl...) had just wandered away during the explosions and had had no idea where - she was blind, though. So, apparently, they could not trace a trace a young girl on an area of... like, how much could a blind girl make in that period of time? Two kilometers? And without anyone to see her? And they could surely imagine that a bandaged girl, probably in hospital robes and bare feet, too, reaching out her hands in hopes she wouldn't hit something or someone, couldn't really go unnoticed, now could she?

Basically, they set their minds on the idea that the ninja in Konohagakure were shamelessly incompetent and surely they'd find the girl most quickly and, most probably, dead. There was no way that someone like the person they had been described could survive out there, especially with this new... misfit of hers. Wild animals ...And no food ...And no water!

Alright, she was a ninja, though. ... but part of a family that mostly depended on their eyes. Could she guess her surroundings with her major source of power gone? She had surely weakened as she tried to make out something. And the more she had weakened the less of a chance she had had.

But the joke was on them. They could find no girl, no corpse, no blood, no trace, nor shadow or whisper of any. No one even saw this ghostly appearance they were talking about.

Many people got to find out about the missing blind girl. Over the next years, her story became a myth, with the right additions here and there and the right people to pass it on in the right way. Among civilians especially, versions of tales were many. They told stories that her wandering soul walked around at night, looking for her eyes. And, if she found anyone outside of their houses later than midnight, she took their eyes. And she tried them on, figured out they were not hers and, crushing them under her feet, she went forward, continuing her never-ending search.

...or so did parents tell to their misbehaving children. As for the truth, who knows? A myth is a myth. It's something you know isn't true… right?


	4. Actually it's Darkness

Three years after the sudden disappearance, in conformity with the laws of Konoha, Hyuuga Hinata was declared dead. The hopeless search stopped. There were not even traces of remainings of the girl, but surely the earth had eaten them in those five years and wild dogs found her bones to be fine treat. Officials did not know what the 'cause of death' section of the act should have contained. They were sure that the girl escaped the fire in the hospital, but there had been so many life threatening things from then on, for a blind girl especially, that it was unlikely to be able to stop at any of them. So that they scribbled 'died on the battlefield', writing down the date of the battle during which she had lost her eyes. Perhaps there was a right in that. Perhaps Hyuuga Hinata had died that day. As for her body, its location had been, for a long while, unknown even for the girl herself.

For a person who is born blind, learning about the world outside may be difficult. But becoming blind on the way is no longer about learning anything. It's about remembering it all. Our knowledge is conditioned by recognition. And recognition is conditioned by memory. You ask yourself the question 'do I know about this?' and then your brain responds to it, 'This is a vegetable called watermelon. And this is around how much it weights. Its shape is like that and it feels like this. Its inside has this colour. It smells like this and it tastes like that'. You learnt about these things already. You know them all. You only have to remember them. But without the eyes you can't see. So if you can't see, where do you get that first hint from, so the recognition could act? Well, that's it. You can't see. Then you'll have to learn to feel forms better, to smell better - that flower, can't you guess it by its scent? You'll have to learn to hear better - that bird, cannot you guess it by its song? You'll have to coordinate better your moves in space. Sense things. Project them in your mind.

There's no sight to help. Take that lemon in your hand. Measure it. Feel its tough coat. Cut it open. You can inhale its powerful smell. The smell already tells you it's sour. Taste it. Isn't it sour, as you recognized it to be? Then crush it in your hand. It feels juicy. Feel the acid liquid dripping. It is fresh. Somehow itchy. Sometimes, having one door closed can open many others.

After the incident, Hinata was caught in a world inside her, a strange kind of numbness settling on the surface. This was a numbness not quiet and not restful. And while the world inside was in a continuous movement and wonder and suppositions, so was the world outside. Because the indifference towards the world outside consisted in not controlling it at all, leaving the rage inside project. You cannot feel uneasy about your words and actions if you are not interested in what the outcomes may be. Hinata did not stutter any longer and her movements were not nervous. In the past, she had also had a problem with looking people in the eyes as she spoke - as for this problem, it was removed with her eyes.

Her usual nurse will never tell, because she did not confess it at the right time, but her patient used to be very odd.

One day, she required, "Can you give me the book on the third shelf on the left?" Was she supposed to response to respond to that with, "I'm giving you no book, you're blind"? Of course not. She gave it to her, without questioning how she had even known a book was there. Or how she had known of the shelves. "Thanks, I like its cover pattern," the young woman told her.

This other time, she said, "Can you please close the window and let the curtains down? There's too much light coming in". The nurse opened her mouth to say something, but closed it back again. After all, what did she know? She was no ninja - she was a simple nurse. The window was just across from the bed and, indeed, the rays coming in were falling right on the bed. Still...

The window closed with the lowest click. But even so, the click was followed by an immediate "Thank you" from the young lady.

She didn't know that the young lady did not spend all of her time in bed, where she'd mostly found her. She would also never know that the young lady started to become more than aware of anyone approaching her room and that's why she jumped in the bed immediately, not leaving it before she was sure she was alone - and she was very aware of when she was truly alone as well, no matter how quiet the people coming in may have been.

First time she got up, she tripped and hit her head in the iron rod at the bottom of the bed. A nurse passing by heard her and came in. That was an awkward situation and, next time, she was more attentive. She listened with much more attention, avoiding for her struggle to be noticed. She learned to move smoothly, guessing her surroundings by touch. She moved slowly and touched slowly, at first only because she couldn't otherwise, next because it was the safest and last because she learnt it to be simply the best. Two days into her staying, she knew the place perfectly. She could almost visualize it. Only that she didn't know colours, but hospitals were mostly while, so it was not that bothersome to live with it. After the place was well known, she occupied her time with both moving and listening. She heard conversations that came from rooms nearby or outside the hospital, music that seemed to be really far away, but the most interesting she found were the sounds of rain and the wind. One night, it rained for hours. The hospital was perfectly quiet and so she stood there and listened to the rain for hours. Intriguing, to find out the rain could be that loud. And it didn't even seem to be a heavy rain. Had falling drops always been that loud?

Speaking up her mind was suddenly too easy. Not that she suddenly started speaking a lot, but what she had to say, she could speak and she could do it without her voice to tremble, because she did no longer fear people may show disapproving looks - she could not see these disapproving looks; these could no longer scare her and bring down her confidence. She did no longer have to look them in the eye, in which her fear of saying the wrong thing could have been seen.

The day of the arson she was up at the window, listening, as usual. She could not feel the warm light of the sun rays any longer. It must have been evening already.

Suddenly, she heard movement around. It was a weak sound, like the sound of a leaf falling, but she was sure it had not really been a falling leaf. Something was going on. Something must have been going on, because she got a chill. And then she heard a different sound, the sound of burning fuse. The weakest scent of burnt wick was in the air and she left the window immediately, a chill running down her spine. Knowing the way too well by now, she walked directly to the door and opened it. The low click of a walking stick announced her that there had to be someone - and the sound came closer. And she could sense another person walking by the one with the walking stick. The person with the walking stick seemed to have a slow pace - probably an elder. Surely there was a nurse accompanying.

She spoke about what she heard out loud, being sure there was someone to hear her. The nurse agreed, but Hinata could guess she was kind of sceptical from the way she spoke. She heard the nurse go inside the room. Around two minutes later, she heard the nurse coming back, too, saying there was nothing to worry about, inviting her to get back in her compartment. Hinata refused. She was not imagining things, that was impossible. And she had a really bad feeling about it all. More than that, she was sure she could still hear it, the burning wick. How could that nurse not hear it inside the room, where the sound was louder?

In the end, the nurse finally agreed to at least let her speak it further with the director - Shizune had to believe her; Shizune would surely be capable to hear it, too. And, agh... the smell of burnt. It was coming closer, too. She felt intoxicated and, also, in more danger like before. What was that feeling? Where did it come from?

And in then silence of the moment, a new, loud sound came, the cause of her restlessness finally revealed. It was not an usual explosion - it did not sound like an explosion, no, but... Unnerving heat followed the sound - fire. The next very moment she felt herself being pulled in a hurry, far from the sensation of heat and light. And she could occasionally feel the touch of skin and fabric - the place was getting crowded. And noisy. And soon she was somewhere out, somewhere cold. She was out. Outside. Outside the hospital. More noise. More fabric. And more skin. She hugged herself, with coldness and uneasiness coating her. People were constantly moving around, but she stood on her place. In what direction was she supposed to move? She did not know where was this place where the hand that had pulled her outside and afterwards abandoned her out there, in the middle of a maddening crowd.

Breathing in loudly, she tried to concentrate. She reached out her hand, just up enough to sense if she was about to hit something, but low enough to not stand out. Anyway, it was not a very necessary precaution, because the people around were too concerned about their loved ones' and own lives to notice anything else. Luckily, it was also dark enough for her impairment to not get noticed. As far as the others were concerned, she was just another confused one, touching around to just make her way out or check if the ones she passed were ones she looked for.

And so, unknowing to her or anyone around, she left the crowd and hospital's surroundings behind. This was happening right at the time the Hyuuga teams were spreading through the hospital, to be sure the heiress had not been caught somewhere in, before going to look for her outside, where they at least could be sure to find her safer.

There was clear chaos and hectic movements at the hospital, but otherwise the village was quiet and peaceful. It was already late at night. So people did not notice the girl walking in straight line, her hand still reached out for possible obstacles. And if they did, it was a night too dark to notice the bandages around her eyes and so there was nothing anyone could find wrong about her wandering around. She did not even wander chaotically, as to make it seem odd and draw attention to it. Just in straight line. In straight, continuous line. And so she reached the gates. But the gates watchers were Water Users, so that, at the urgent call, they had left the post and rushed to the hospital without having the time to call for replacement. They'd be back soon a minute later - a minute too late, because the girl would be lost through the woods, out in the dark night.

But why didn't the girl remain in the crowd, where she would have been easily found? Or why didn't she stop after a while, away from the suffocating crowd, but close enough to be found just as easily by a skilled Hyuuga? Because, the moment she had hugged herself in the middle of the chaotic crowd, she had also made up her mind and decided she would not stay, remembering right then and there about the eyes she was supposed to receive from someone supposed to sacrifice for the heiress.

But where would she go? What to do if she got caught? She did not know. And she did not know anything really. And she did not even think about anything. She did not give herself the time to think. She just concentrated on walking straight. And kept walking ahead.

Hours later, she fell down, exhausted. Someone who had been following her no longer straight walking finally came closer and picked her up. At that time, the search outside the village was starting. But it was too late for them to find her. She was no longer somewhere on any surrounding grounds.

* * *

**A/N:** _Ah, I cannot tell you how much I love writing Hinata's POV in stories. She appears to me as a character with so many possibilities! And I cannot help but give her the chance to present every side of her actions and thoughts. So I hope you don't mind the many details - writing them is a pleasure I can't be denied. :)_


	5. Where home is

A year into his trip, Naruto was still aimless. Without having yet found what he had looked for, he passed the Konoha gates. He did not respond to the gates men's greetings and just rushed to the Hokage Tower.

Invited in, his answer was that no, he wasn't back for real. He was there just to have some rumours confirmed. And Tsunade did confirm them.

"By the way you say it, baachan, you are more than sure she has to be dead."

Tsunade looked sternly at him. And then she grimaced. That said it all.

Naruto snorted humorously. "I don't know why I did not expected this," he said thoughtfully. "And I don't mean about Hinata, but about them all. You never know, when in comes to shinobi, when and how they are going to die, no matter how strong." And then he blinked, took a look around and started moving towards the door.

Tsunade watched his reactions carefully and, when he started to leave, she sighed. She cleared her throat, "Naruto."

He turned around, expectedly.

"Are you leaving once again?" She already knew the answer, but asked anyway.

"Hai."

"Still not knowing for how long."

"Hai."

"I see - I'll have it noted in your file, then."

Naruto saluted with a inexpressive look and finally left. Tsunade did not like it at all, how this boy's state was going bad. He looked glummy and there was something more to it... His spirits were unrecognisable.

* * *

There had been two months since his visit in Konoha and he was moving again. This time taking another route and at higher speed. When the rumors got to him, that time, he had almost reached the lands of the long gone Uzumaki clan - not that he knew who had once lived in the deserted places he'd seen.

Those movements of the leaves... He stopped all of a sudden, aware of the presence of ill-intentioned chakra. Some were approaching him. Well, rather many - many of them were coming his way.

He straightened his pose, his face turning harsher, as figures started appearing before his eyes, at a distance of meters, filling the space ahead.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, back away, guys." The one talking came in his sight, making his way through the space that the others quickly moved away to make. He was walking at casual pace, but something in his attitude was bold and secure. His face, uncovered, was serious, but not rigid, the kind of expression you'd expect to see in a concerned father. The man was clearly the leader. As he stepped closer, he frowned with curiosity, at first, but, gradually, he seemed to have internally come to a conclusion and his lips curved into a soft smile.

Naruto had been so struck about this apparition that he did not even react at first. And when he finally thought of reacting somehow, the man was already in front of him, his hand reached out to shake Naruto's. So the only think he could do was to proceed with it. They shook hands, watching each other in the eyes attentively - the two had about the same height. As in a tribal recognition, when it was over, they both knew what there was to be known out of this simple contact.

"Come have a drink in our camp, young man," the man offered. The others received this proposal with surprise. But they did not even move an inch to contradict the leader.

Naruto gave it a thought and then nodded. He could have considered it to be a trap, if trusting a ninja's judgement, but Naruto had another kind of judgement that he usually followed. And it proved to be right in most of times.

The other man seemed to be in his forties, only a few, thin wrinkles on his face and some white hairs through the dark mane. Not old enough to call Naruto 'young man', maybe, but, then again, Naruto was not that old himself. Just turned twenty a while ago. But he felt older. Much older.

Under the curious, yet cautious gaze of the other ninja, he walked side by side with the older man, whose name he would find out to be Hiro - just that; no clan name. Naruto didn't even have to ask; the man added himself, "I'm not cautious. I'm not hiding any identity. I just don't have a name any longer, because I no longer belong to any clan. If the clan is no longer my home, why should I keep its existence in mind?"

"Were you... banished?" Naruto asked then. He knew it was something not safe to ask, but he wasn't the type to keep his mouth shut when necessary. After all, bands like these were made of missing nin - usually too dangerous for the village.

"Not openly," was the only answer and, even though he burned with curiosity, Naruto decided to have a little patience at last.

The camp was a rather hidden path, with sleeping bags prepared, backpacks hanging in trees and wood chops carefully arranged in the middle for a nice, big camp fire.

"We had just finished arranging things when I sensed you were coming our way - thought you were a threat," Hiro explained.

"So I don't look like much of a threat," Naruto smirked.

"I don't know how much of a threat you are in body, but I doubt you bring threatening thoughts; now, do you?" Hiro started the fire with a jutsu and seated himself by it, enjoying its already warming flames.

"No, not looking for trouble, if that's what you mean - actually, I'm pretty much trying to find what I'm looking for," Naruto stood down, too, feeling there was no reason for him to feel alarmed.

"Looking for the meaning of life, kid?" one of the others finally spoke, something of a kind humour in his voice and face. Looking better at him, Naruto recognized the one with the deep, thick scar on his forehead.

"No, not life in general - just mine, " Naruto raised his shoulders as he said so. He felt a kind of familiarity born out of nothing, among these men at the hands of he had believed he was going to die, earlier, not without much of their blood on his hands.

"You seem to be a ninja. From the fighting position you jumped in instantly, earlier, at the sight of us, you are a ninja, yes... So don't go on looking. There's no meaning in a ninja's life. There's barely sense. Well, there's barely sense in any life, but there's less in a ninja's one than in anyone else's," he heard these words coming from what had earlier seemed to be a pure barbarian with nothing but blood in mind. Naruto had never been the one to understand very deep things, but the man had expressed himself so simply that each word with its meaning got easily to him.

"Does one take the missing nin path because they discover the little sense?" The question sounded childish, but the others realized that Naruto was not laughing at them - he was genuinely curious to know the answer.

"Strange one you brought here," one more joined the fire. This was was a very skinny one, a peevish look on his face. "But quite an interesting one, too," and, turning to the others, still standing away, "Hey, get the drinks out already! What are you doing, standing there?" he told them loudly, his lips curved from ear to ear, in the cocky manner of a prankster.

"There you go," one of the ones standing threw a bottle at him with a smirk, aiming directly at his head. But the one whose name he found it later to be Masayuki caught it easily in its flight - something the one throwing it surely expected to happen - and, soon enough, men crowded around the fire and same did the bottles of sake.

"So, boy, you're asking if the missing nin path is the last to turn to in hopelessness and despair?" Masayuki asked in an affected tone, but the following smile showed it was not ill-intentioned. He took out a cigarette and lit it by leaning closer to the fire. In the meantime, the bottles passed around.

"Missing nin... there are a lot of types," the leader, Hiro, spoke this time, taking a gulp of a bottle now in his hands and then he passed it to Naruto.

Naruto took it and there was a moment of general awaiting - would he drink or not. Trusting his instincts, the blond drank. And a general relaxation and lack of awareness finally filled the whole camp, as if Naruto was receiving a baptism of theirs and could now be fully accepted.

As Naruto passed the bottle further, too, the leader went on, "Well, the types of us are the types of the casual ninja, actually. There are the blood-hungry mercenaries - they don't really care about anything, as long as they could get the chance to kill. There are the winning oriented ones, looking for money and by whose side they could earn most. And, then, for the last category... this does not fit for both missing nin and village nin. In the village, you could call them 'village and clan oriented', while we, here, are 'village and clan disoriented'. We used to be village-oriented, but we lost it. We wear no name of a clan and we wear no line-crossed hitai-ate of a village, as they use to," and he pointed to his uncovered forehead as he said so.

"How did you 'lose it'?" Naruto asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well,"Hiro tilted his head to the right, his gaze absent, "everyone of us have their story. How did _you_ lose it?" he suddenly turned and watched Naruto straight in the eyes.

"Me?"

"Why do you keep your hitai-ate in your hand, young man?" asked in return, a knowing smile forming on his face.

Naruto looked down instantly, to discover the hitai-ate still hanging in his fingers. Actually, he had been so unaware of its presence that it was about to slip.

"The clueless look always fit you best, after all." Naruto looked up, finding it too unexpected, both by finding out there had been one of them standing behind his back and by the fact that the voice he heard was of 'one of them'.

"Sasuke," he spoke it up, not even trying to hide his surprise.

The dark-haired man came in sight, taking his spot by the fire. Silly to think it, but it looked as if the others had been all aware that one had not yet taken his seat and so there had been the spot kept for him. Sasuke was not changed at all, from what Naruto could remember. But there was something of haste and restlessness in his otherwise lazy eyes.

"What are you doing here?" Naruto asked.

"Me? I've been a missing nin all along," Sasuke indifferently raised his shoulders - his atittude was same as always. "However, that does not fit you as well."

"As you heard already, I have no idea what 'fits' me right now," Naruto muttered, glaring at his oldest friend. Sasuke smirked at his reaction. Those old habits...

"You know each other?" Hiro asked none in particular.

"He's from my village, Sasuke said bluntly. "Uzumaki Naruto - I'm telling you his name because he's been quite a celebrity lately, hn," he resumed and took a gulp of saké.

"Uzumaki Naruto, you say," Masayuki laughed, "Yes, yes, damn famous!"

"Uzumaki, you said?" Hiro seemed to find more interest in his clan name, "Had no idea there were any still out there. I mean, yes, it is known that many of them escaped and children of theirs still live out there, but I haven't heard of anyone still carrying the Uzumaki name, this far," he mused, not looking at Naruto, but examining a leaf that had just fallen from above him.

"The Uzumaki clan? The Uzumaki were a well-known clan?" Naruto snapped. He knew well how much pride all the people he knew put into their clans. But, as for him, who had been mostly not allowed to belong anywhere, he had never thought of the possibility of there being a clan he could have belonged to. Connecting his name to a clan a random person seemed to think of as important was strange.

Masayuki started laughing harder this time, carelessly throwing himself on the ground as he did so, "Don't take that as offence, Hiro." It was strange too hear the leader's name (because he was surely the leader) being called with so much familiarity. But, most important, why would he be 'offended'?

"Hiro was an Uzumaki, too. You know, kind of in another life and all, but still...," said, composing himself - well, a little...

"An Uzumaki?" Naruto turned to Hiro, astonished. Hiro was still examining his leaf.

"Now, now," Masayuki sighed, "Sink it in. Was Uzumaki. No longer Uzumaki. And cut the drama."

"I am part of no clan," Hiro finally spoke, the leaf still having his attention, "And the Uzumaki are no longer a clan."

"But I want to know about...," Naruto was insisting.

"From what you said, I assume you have no real direction in your journey," Hiro finally looked up at him. "Take that of the wind," he said and let the leaf free. The leaf was taken up, in the air's flight and went flying south. "Find out yourself when you get there."

Naruto was silent for a few moments and then he sat up. "Alright."

"You better stay the night and rest, though," Hiro added with an indulgent smile - the boy's impatience seemed to bring back something familiar.

"No one's going to cut your throat in your sleep. And the won't let me do it either," Sasuke smirked. "Honestly, I thought you'd be eager to stay and share stories when we met once again."

"You, to be talkative and share stories?" Naruto glanced at him with a snort.

"Dobe, you are talkative - you share stories."

"Do you even have any idea about how this sharing stories work?"

"Hn, one can share with others or many can share between them - yes, I'm perfectly right," Sasuke crossed his arms.

"Wait a...," Naruto smirked, "So you miss hearing from home, Sasuke?" he asked insinuatingly.

"Hn," Sasuke snorted, irritated, his nose raised in the air. "Take a look around. I'm a missing nin and Konoha is no 'home'. But I...," he trilled off, gazing thoughtfully in the fire. Getting to an inner agreement, he got up. "If you want to leave right now, I'll show you the way. This area is full of our traps, so you could use a guide for the next miles. Hiro?" he turned to the leader, waiting for approval. It seemed quite strange to see Sasuke act pretty much obediently, after acting so carelessly and with no concern for anybody else, in the past.

Hiro nodded and reached out his hand once more to Naruto, "It was a pleasure meeting you, young man. I wish you all the luck in the search for the answers you need."

Naruto shook it and got up, being followed by everybody's eyes as they departed. At a convenient distance from the camp, he finally spoke again, "So what was it you wanted to hear, away from your new comrades?"

Sasuke stopped in the way. Naruto almost tripped while taking the sudden turn around to be back in line with Sasuke.

"Nothing," Sasuke replied, casually raising his shoulders. "If there was something I wanted to know, I don't know about it."

Naruto narrowed his eyes, trying to make out the damn vague ways of his friend. Why did he always have to be so complicated?

"Well, besides Hinata, who is dead, everyone's doing well in Konoha," Naruto added bluntly, starting to move ahead.

But Sasuke still didn't move, "You mean the Hyuuga heiress?"

"We've been colleagues and you still know her as 'the Hyuuga heiress'?"

Sasuke just raised his shoulders to that. He didn't look like he cared anyhow. But then again, Sasuke never looked like he cared for anything. "Why aren't you in the village?" he changed the subject just like that.

"I needed a break. But what is a loner like you with such a big crowd?"

"A break doesn't sound like you. Not to mention it was a break of more than a year already." Well, well, but he was well informed. And Naruto's question remained unanswered. You could always count on Sasuke to be a smooth talker.

"Any idea about how she died?" Now he was going back to that. And people said Naruto was the unpredictable one.

"Not really," Naruto replied, watching Sasuke cautiously. "They don't know themselves and I didn't ask further. But she is surely dead." Of course, Sasuke had no reaction and received the news as a weather prescription. Naruto wondered if Sasuke just didn't know what to say anymore and so just tried and made conversation out of that.

"I see," Sasuke started walking again. Naruto had no other choice than to follow him. "But you did not explain your 'trip' yet."

"You did not answer my question either and I'm not complaining!" Naruto started losing his patience.

"Now you are," Sasuke smirked. "And you are also out of the danger zone. Take this straight line and, when out of the forest, go South, as Hiro said," he saluted all of a sudden and started departing, in the direction they came from.

"Oi, Sasuke, is there anywhere I could find you in the future?" Naruto shouted to Sasuke's back.

"No," Sasuke replied without turning around. "But I'm sure meetings will do happen." And, with that, he jumped out of sight.

* * *

"You wanted news about her, right?" Hiro asked, aware of Sasuke's presence even before he came in their sight. "When you mentioned he's from your village, I was sure you'd take the chance to ask."

"He did not know much," Sasuke took his place once again, "but it was confirmed that they think her dead."


	6. Life after death

"My informers say it's official: you were declared dead. But then again, they were more than sure you were dead back in the first months. Waiting three years was just a formality," Sasuke was saying, leaning his back against a tree nearby, paying very little attention to the movement in front of him. There, two ninja were sparring. The first of them was a sneaky man, in his thirties. His movements were impressively fast and tricky, yet his opponent still managed to hit him constantly and it was just a matter of time until victory would be on this second one's side.

Left, right, left again, and then centre - the sneaky man fell down on his knees, panting.

The victorious one did not seem tired at all. No visible scratch on the body, too. Then again, the first was not visibly hurt either, but there was a trick to that.

"Legally dead," the second mused with a thoughtful expression. Well, Sasuke, at least, knew it was a thoughtful expression. For others, it was hard to guess the emotions on her face, most of the times, because emotions are mostly visible in the eyes., but the place where her eyes should have been shown was covered in bandages.

She sat on the ground, not far from where he was. Taking a bottle off the tree branches, he threw it to her. She caught it easily and took a few sips. The water was blessing to her dry throat.

"Are you thirsty, Masayuki?" Hinata asked her former opponent.

"Thirst is not my greatest pain at the moment," Masayuki replied grumpily, rubbing the bottom of his left shoulder - creepily close to the heart. But the creepier was that, if she had wanted to, she would have hit the heart.

With that childish pouting look on his face, he looked much younger than he actually was. His real age only showed in battle, when his expression was clear and focused.

Sasuke snorted and smirked, his arms crossed casually over his chest. "You asked for it, remember?"

Masayuki glared at him and then finally got up. Of course, he did. It had seemed all quite a joke when Sasuke inquired that the blind girl brought by him would need a 'brave opponent' to train. Masayuki's jokes had ended up with him being hired for that job. But that had been around three years ago... And now it was long since he had had anything to laugh about...

"So, how's life after death?" he addressed Hinata, his glare turning to a gleeful smile.

"Pretty dark in here, but you get used to it..."

"_You_ surely did," he took a seat on the grass, too, on her right.

"Concerning that...," Sasuke took a few steps forward and sat on her left, no rush at all in his movements. As soon as he was seated, he took a look at Masayuki, implying 'you're still here?'. Masayuki's expression turned sullen, but, after all of those years, he knew better than to deal with Sasuke. He grimaced and got up. "See you next time, Hinata-chan!" he turned to Hinata cheerfully.

"Goodbye, Masayuki," she showed him one of her little, rare smiles.

"Hinata...," Sasuke started slowly, after Mayasuki was gone, watching, from the corner of his eye, the sober expression on her face. "You know you owe me, don't you?"

She snorted, "What's on your mind?"

"I came back with something from the last mission."

"You know the answer is always 'no' to that," she replied sternly, caressing her fingers gently, between the index and thumb of the other hand, clenching her teeth from the pain, as she did so. All of her fingers were swollen and had a bruised colour. The detail did not slip his eyes. But, then again, she didn't even mean to hide these things from him.

"Don't be stubborn," he replied... equally stubborn.

"They will do me no good," she protested once again.

"You have nothing to do with them in battle, but it's foolish of you to think of only that side of it," Sasuke snarled back.

"They'd stay in my way to getting stronger."

"Getting stronger...," he scoffed.

It was easy to see for anyone but her that the woman had developed a complex. All of those years, she had been training. Getting stronger had been her only preoccupation. Not that he did not know how that worked, himself... Pushing the limits. And always thinking she was still too weak. Too limited. In time, it had turned in more than a confidence issue. It was an obsession.

Not even after all of this time did he understand the actual reason for which she had decided to leave Konoha, that night. It was like she had decided she wanted to be forgotten. And to forget about her existence herself.

* * *

That night, he was just getting back from gathering information for a future mission. He saw the shadow coming that way, towards the headquarters' direction and, at first, thought of simply killing it off, just in case. The careless pacing seen from afar made it clear that the target was nothing serious, maybe some brat that got lost in the forest. Little fool. He could just struck the brat with a kunai. After all, alone out there, it was likely he'd fall dead anyway, only slower and more painful. Getting out into the forest, the brat pretty much asked for it, that's what he thought. He took out that kunai, but did not have the chance to throw it: the figure fell on its own. Well, that's exactly what he was saying...

Putting the kunai away, he approached that mess on the ground, to check if the thing was dead down there. He jumped in the place and gathered a handful of leaves. He lit them with a fireball and watched closely, placing his index at the top of her neck, checking the pulse. Pulse was there, and quite strong it was.

The fire revealed an unexpected sight. The person, who was actually a woman, not a child, had bandages across the eyes. And wasn't that a hospital gown? Checking her features further, things turned out as more interesting: that seemed to be the Hyuuga heiress. He couldn't really remember her name at the moment, but was pretty sure it was her.

Strange. Where had she been heading in that state? She seemed to had run from the hospital. And her hospitalization was obviously connected to those bandages over the eyes. He removed the bandages and took a look. That was not a simple eye strain or anything related. The eyes had been wounded beyond repairable. But that was none of his concern...

He arranged the bandages back into place and stood there, thinking, for a while. It was good that he did not manage to kill her. He had a lot of problems without the murder of the Hyuuga heiress on his records. Also, taking into account she was not anyone unimportant, they'd surely be looking for her soon, whatever was the reason she had left for.

But, now, what could have been the reason? Surely, being in the position she was in, a way to provide her new eyes had been thought of and preparations had been already in the making. What had she been thinking? Because it was obvious there had been no one tracking her or anything like that. If that was the case, she would have been dead long before, given her condition.

Well, leaving her there, to be found by her clan seemed to be the wisest decision. But that thought, of what the reason could be behind such a drastic escape, did not leave his mind, so that five minutes later he was still thinking, the little fire long since gone. In the end, he got up, and he also picked her up as he did so.

Hyuuga Hinata was, minutes later, in the underground headquarters of the already introduced missing nin.

* * *

Bringing a stranger there got him in trouble, but trouble did not end there. Every once in a while, their blind guest would try to maker her escape. And while everyone was on Sasuke's back about it, even though it annoyed him, it also amused him really much.

Thinking it that way, that place was quite a labyrinth, with complex allotment, guarded by skilled missing in, and this blind girl almost managed to get past all this, not only once, and after a short while of being there.

"If you want to get back to the village, do tell me now, instead of causing trouble," he told her harshly.

"I don't want to get back there...," she murmured as response, sitting with her legs and arms crossed.

"Then I suppose you have somewhere else to go," he added sarcastically. And that was all he ever told her, for a while.

She just stood silence and, from then on, stopped trying to escape. Yet she kept wandering around the base, surprising the men in there by saluting them by their names, no matter how silent they were or whether she had met them before or not.

One day, Sasuke came back to talk to her again.

"I want to know more about this sensing of yours," he said, without any other introductions.

"What are you talking about?" She really did not understand what there could have been of _hers_ to have his attention and curiosity.

"Oh, you know, blind people don't usually go around, fooling S-rank ninja," he spit, already losing his patience, but then regained it, making things seem more promising, "Don't you want to get to use this?"

When he told them he wanted a 'brave man' to help with the training of the blind girl. there was a general jeer from the others. Mayasuki, the cocky clown of the lace, was the loudest. And so he ended up being the one assigned by Hiro.

During a long explicative speech from Sasuke, in which the Uchiha continuously addressed him as 'opponent', Mayasuki interrupted him mid-sentence, adding sweetly, "Just in case the lady got it wrong, my name is Mayasuki, not 'opponent'."

The risible attitude of his, which she was used to from Naruto, made it easy for her to get along with him. And the other way round. No matter for how many times she was punched to the ground, panting. Or for how many times he have been the one to do that, lately.

* * *

After a while, her presence was gradually accepted through the others members of the team. Not only was her presence agreeable, but everyone had a lot of fun by finding something of Sasuke's 'soft spot'. Because, as much as she annoyed him, he also got to feel this kind of fondness for her. Not the lovey-dovey kind of fondness, but something in the front of which it was easier to bow and accept. It was born of just an unexpected likeness, as she proved to be much prouder than he thought. And quiet. And annoying. And stubborn. So stubborn. The kind of person it's hard to get along with - unless you are one of them.

With how hard was for the others to get along with Sasuke, this kind of discovery, and this kind of a chance to mock him were everything they could have ever wished her. So Hinata's presence turned from agreeable to very welcome. Of course, this kind of happening also had a reverse effect. From the antipathy against Sasuke from before, there came a slight sympathy now, too - the young man was human, ladies and gentlemen.

* * *

"You will have them," he put it straight, conveniently ignoring everything she said before.

"You can't force me. I'll fight back," she raised an eyebrow cockily.

"Don't act so cocky. If you can fight well, it doesn't mean you can fight _me_," he ended up as the one to act cockier.

"What's an Uchiha without the Sharingan?"

"How about you restrain yourself from trying this hard to find out."

It was a serious talk, yet not. There was a humoristic atmosphere about their bickering. And they were both used to this kind of things.

"I'll schedule this for tomorrow, the latest, then," he concluded, unyielding, and got up before Hnata to have the chance to add anything with a, "I'm going. Next time we see each other, we both see each other." And he was out of the place.

The truth was that she did not have in mind anything to say against it, because other thoughts had been already rooting in her mind. She hadn't told him, but she had these plans to leave that place. Soon enough. And the eyes might be a good aid, in the matter, even if just to check directions and faces.


	7. Sclera, Pupil, Iris

**A/N:** _This story is starting to become quite dear to me, so I am very willing to go on writing new chapters. So it happens that an update comes this early, compared to other times. Thanks to the reviewers _aryaputra_ and _LilyVampire _who check and leave their feedback all the time - I really appreciate this. _

* * *

Sitting in the dark, in the middle of a room and hearing a storm outside. With eyes closed, to make yourself think you were the one who decided there will be darkness. Sitting still, to make yourself believe you are not afraid to try and leave that place - you just don't want to, right? Unnerved by the roaring outside, but making yourself believe that you're not afraid at all not even curious. But you are aware of the actual darkness. You do hear the storm. And you feel uneasy and curious. _When it is going to end, I will be relieved,_ you tell yourself. But you have no idea how the storm stands in the way of your relief, because you don't feel uneasy about the darkness, or the roaring, or of having to move somewhere else, with that roaring you hear and the darkness ahead, do you?

And so she stood that night, in her room, in her darkness, waiting for the relief after the storm, telling herself she cannot possibly feel uneasy about it and wondering what she could be uneasy about, really.

They said all of the connections had been settled, that the surgery had been a success. But her problem was other and they couldn't understand it. She had this feeling that it was not normal, what was going on in there, beneath the bandages. Nerves others than the ones they usually dealt with, that had been sleeping for long, were now awakened. And they were finding something to stick themselves to, after all of that time. Impulses of energy ran through them and made it itch and burn and ache, but all of it felt in a positive way. A feeling of expectancy.

As she laid there, numbness spread through her body, as powerful as silence spreading through the room. And soon there was not the expectancy anymore. And there was not even the darkness. Because there's nothing in sleep from the world outside, just from the one inside. ...unless something from reality intrudes.

Itchy...

_She was there again, on the battlfield. Surrounded. Anbushed. There must have been around fifteen covered faces. She had to be realistic: that was a dead end. She would not survive for the arrival of any back up. And she had no way of calling for back up, anyway. She could barely atack and mostly defended herself._

Temples... so itchy...

_The defense was not going great, either. She was getting injured. Her chakra was getting low. And so were the chances to survive. The best she could do was die a honorable death. Die fighting. It was the most someone like her could do, it seemed._

_"Those eyes are not ordinary, see that?" one of them smirked to another. "We could use an extra prize for the work."_

Her fingers reached for the itchy spots, in her sleep and encountered the tight bandages.

_Her heart raced faster. A chill ran down her spine and it made her miss once more - a kunai flew into her knee. And she fell on that knee. The pain became striking with the fall. She tried to gather herself together and stand up, pulling out the damn kunai, while staying out of the reach of many other weapons. But one more got stuck in her flesh, in her left upper arm, spreading pain all down the way, momentary paralyzing her entire arm. And they were getting closer, already feeling victorious._

She unconsciously scratched along the bandage, but no use. And they were so tight... And the temples itched so badly...

_She had to make up her mind fast. If they got to take her eyes, there went her honour, as a Hyuuga and as a ninja. She held the kunai she had gotten out of her knee tighter, the previous wounds burning now, but paralysing no longer._

Her fingers twitched in the darkness, reaching for the edges of the bandages...

_Her eyes focused. Though burning with pain, her arm and leg were stable. She grasped the kunai, watching them approaching her slowly - they knew she had no way out._

She caught the edges on both sides of her face...

_She watched, trying to memorize their placement as well as she could. And when they were as close as she wanted them, she breathed in, raised the kunai and, in one fast move, slashed across her eyes._

The itching turned to burning and she ripped the bandage with both hands, eyes opening wide, looking past the darkness and beneath the wall to see a dark haired man just entering the room next door.

Breathing hard, she straightened herself on the bed and her trembling hands traced lines across her temples and lower, around the eyes.

"It can't...," she whispered in the dark. She raised her hand up and looked at it. Spread all through the hand, like shiny vines, her chakra was flowing powerfully and chaotically. For more than a minute, she looked at it, in awe. And then she flinched and stood up. She rushed towards a desk in the nearest corner of the room, wrote something on a piece of paper, looking, all along, only at the chakra flowing in her hand - she was well used to write without needing to see what she was writing. Folding the sheet in two, she opened the little door the had been using all along for these means and passed the message to the room next door. And she waited.

* * *

He was just back from the last mission. A few blood drops fell down his arm and onto the floor, as he entered the room - he needed to take care of that wound. Hinata would be better at those kind of things, but it was quite late to storm in.

"Ah, talking about..." A sheet of paper came from her room. He picked it up and opened it, filling it with bloody fingerprints.

_I see you are back._

It was nothing unusual for her to sense him coming, by chakra, sound, even the smell of fresh blood she had become very sensitive to. But the choice of wording: 'I _see_...' She had her surgery that day, right? _See._

He threw his weapons on the bed and left the room, entering hers. First thing he noticed were the bandages thrown on the floor. "I think it was too early to..." But he was, first in his life, speechless, as he came closer, catching a glimpse in a mirror she had found, with a crack down its middle.

"Where did you get these eyes from?" Hinata asked, breathless, like on the edge of crying, her cracked reflection in the mirror showing utter shock.

"No, these are normal eyes...," Sasuke replied immediately, shaking his head slowly, astonished himself. He knelt where she was kneeling, in the light of a lamp, took the mirror from her hands and placed it down and, catching her by the shoulders, turned her around to face him.

He caught her face between his fingers and took a close look at that pair of eyes and further, at the thin, long bumps around them. Finally, he let go.

"We must congratulate ourselves," he smirked and got up. "We just solved an old mystery: which are better, Sharingan or Byakugan?"

"What are you saying?" Hinata surely couldn't get the humour.

"Let me clear the funny part of this, for you. Sharingan appears in some kind of conditions, while one gets born with the Byakugan - this was already a plus for the Byuakugan. And now this: it can be used on different eyes, as long as the nerves are not affected," he leaned and pointed at the thin bumps on her temple.

Her hand reached there and she laid her fingers upon them. She closed hers eyes and, concentrating, felt the bumps smoothing under the touch - she was not used to that any longer, but a warm feeling came with the familiarity. Once again, she stretched her arm and picked up that mirror. The eyes were a metallic grey, in colour, but the current look in her eyes was of a soft sort. As it turned focused, the softness faded out, and the metal turned to dark ice. There was something about it that he simply did not like.

"Well, they are still 'compass' material," she snapped, not to him, but more to herself, putting the mirror away. And then she sat up, with the new realization. She picked up the lamp and stood up, looking all around. The room was not much, but still right then it was amazing to look at. The white sheets. And the white walls. The ink spattered papers on the desk. The wooden closet. Drops of blood... on the floor...?

She looked up at him with frowning eyebrows. Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he he took a look where she had been glancing earlier, then back at her, with a flat look. "I was going to take care of that," he muttered.

She pulled his arm with one hand, pulling the chair next to the desk, with the other, and made him sit there. He had been too taken by surprise to react to it. And he shot her a glare when he realized how he'd been moved around. "Let me guess you did not have puppets when you were a child," he said, clenching his teeth, as she removed the piece - though gently - of fabric, unfortunately glued to the wound, because of the coagulating blood.

"No. It was considered laughable for a future clan leader to lose time with such childish preoccupations," she replied calmly, checking the wound. "Quite deep. What made it?" she questioned.

"I was hurt with my own katana...," he murmured.

"What?" she laughed, accidentally brushing the wound.

"Take care in there!" he snapped back. "... and it is a long story; nevermind that," he closed that subject and she knew he wouldn't add anything more about it.

"I've been thinking for a while...," she started after some moments of silence.

"Where?" he didn't even left her finish. "I knew you were planning to head somewhere. That was the only reason you could have agreed so easily for," he added afterwards, seeing her surprised that he guessed her intentions so easily.

"I can't really explain things right now, but there's this place I've wanted to visit," she answered, finishing bandaging the wound.

In definitive, they never explained anything, not even to each other. Simply because none was the kind to be able to make such things. They were both more about the 'doing' than the 'saying'. It's surprising how things can sometimes work out that way. Again, it was about being 'one of them'.

"When?" He did not ask for more details.

"I don't know. Soon."


	8. The Greener Leaf

After the Fourth Shinobi War, all of the ninja villages had to deal with great losses. The number of deaths was disastruous. The economy went down instantly and each of the villages struggled to get back on their feet, some slower, other ones faster. And, of course, as it was expected, Konohagakure stood out between the five. Within six months from the war, the country was on its way to stability, with promising prospects for the bigger. Despite working together now, in peace, the differences that had always been there were still present.

Watching from a distance, in their slow pace to survival, the four countries' old resentments grew back in easily, fed by jealousy and greed. And they accumulated in time, coating alliances, and peace thoughts, and honour. And they mixed and rot.

Two years after the war, Konoha was blossoming, while most of the others were simply fine. Just good. Simply mediocre.

Rumors got to Konoha that there had been an unannounced meeting between the Tsuchikage and the Raikage. And, in the third year after the war, the two found some excuses to delay signing the renewal of their alliances.

Something was coming their way, Tsunade realized. And she was getting old and tired, too exhausted to be able to face it on her own. And, in the meantime, the one person she truly trusted to pass that job to was still missing. No sign from him in the past year.

She sighed and opened another drink. If only she could have a break...

* * *

Naruto knew he must keep really still while he waited. The newcomer seemed to have nothing of threat, by the chakra aura. But it startled him that the person was clearly coming that direction. He'd been there long enough to know that people avoided that route. Civilians even thought the place was cursed. Also - and he was sure it hadn't been just an impresion - it looked like the one coming had sensed his presence, too. From far away. But was not impressed at all by it. It made him curious. He took it as a challenge. So he did not move. Let his chakra and position be clear as day. And waited.

The newcomer appeared in the sight, covered in a long cloak, approaching him with slow movements, stopping at a convenient distance. The chakra was very familiar, but Naruto could not place it.

* * *

"Quite hot outside to get covered up like that," Naruto came in sight, jumping down from the tree he'd been watching that long. He was taller now, over 1,70 meters, and his hair was probably longer, because it was mostly caught at the back of his head. His jaw was more proeminent. His face had totally lost its roundness. He was visibly wider in shoulders, but the change was not exxagerate. His voice had something rough in it. But most of his face features were easily recognizable.

"You can never be too cautious," a voice replied, but he did not recognize it.

"I figured you have a good sensoring, too. So I want to know, do you recognize my chakra? I do recognize yours, but I can't remember who it belonged to," he said. "...same with your voice."

"You are Uzumaki Naruto. I can tell you I fought in the last war, so that's probably why you find my chakra familiar."

"You did not stop here for conversation, right?" he asked it frankly.

"I stopped here because it is my destination," she was just as sincere.

"These are ruins," he commented.

"These are ruins of the best sealers there ever were."

"So you are just confessing it straight that you are after the seals," his eyebrow raised questionably.

"You seem to make it clear that, unlike me, you didn't just get here. I don't want to fight you, so I might a well be honest. Actually, I'm not looking for fight at all."

"Then what are the seals you're looking for meant to do? Make rows of flying pigeons?"

"Something like that," she smiled under the cloak. "I'm looking after a seal the Uzumaki made hundreds of years ago. And I know they're all kept somewhere here - a place none managed to find yet. A place only an Uzumaki can trace and open."

"And how were you planning to 'trace and open' it?"

"With your help. Hiro said you might be still here."

"Hiro... sent you here?"

"Indeed."

"...and he said I will help you."

"No. He just said 'you might still be here'. I thought that maybe you'd help an old friend."

"It seems that, when I'm needed, I have a lot of friends. Which of my 'old friends' are you?"

"One you surely don't expect to see."

"I'm ready to pose surprised."

* * *

"There are some talks 'round here," the older of the men said, twirling the bottle in front of him, in a straight circle. His attention seemed to be caught completely by that activity, acting as if whatever he was saying was not much of a big deal, but the ones around him held their breath at each of his words. "They say that this one powerful clan is going under," he went on. The pub was empty except for him, other three around the table and the owner, eavesdropping from the bar, while pretending to clean some ashtrays.

"What kind of rumour is that, Nobu? Their forces are actually growing - these Hyuuga seem to love having lots of babies."

"A construction's bottom rarely gets destroyed. But its top does. And when it does, we call the whole building 'destroyed'," the one called Nobu replied wisely. Though there was nothing wise in his being. He was a skinny, small person, with nothing remarkable in body, except for the playful, twinkling eyes, the kind of eyes that express energy and security. The people like this one's eyes are shifty, their mouth moves energetically. They seem witty when it's in their interest to be so. We can say they are those which are very successful as politicians.

"What are you saying, Nobu?"one of the other three said, a very massive man, but rather submissive, in perfect contrast with Nobu.

"The Main Family of theirs is weakling badly, they say. The old man is soon to pass out and his successor is not right in the head any longer, they say," Nobu explained, taking out a pack of cigarettes. "Older child dead, younger child... just a child," he said slowly, lighting a cigarette. "Do you see where this is going?" He let out a white circle of smoke, which flew and enlarged until it dissipated.

"Why do we care?" another of the three argued, actually just getting angry of how the skinny men could get others' attention hitched so easily.

"We don't really. It's none of our business. We're not powerful enough to care. But I bet stronger people care. I bet they're thinking of how such a mass strength as the Branch Family are now in weak hands. Hands so weak it could be easily snitched away," Nobu smirked. More circles of smoke flew and faded out.

"Well, weak or not, that Branch Family is at the hands of the big guys, through a powerful seal of some sort," the angry man felt the need to contradict Nobu further.

"So it is, I think. But I just wonder... Does the Main Family have any precaution in case, you know... there goes the whole Main Family one day. Under whole control remains the Branch Family?" Nobu mused. "I bet they don't even cross their mind," Nobu threw his head back, laughing, truly amused by what seemed to be a moment's revelation. A vicious laugh, with no consideration for anything. "I bet they don't believe that is possible, with the Branch Family backing them and all... Ah," he puffed once more, "I am really curious what would happen with all that power - they're basically an army."

"Wouldn't the fall of the Hyuuga mean the fall of the Leaf, though," the one who did not spoke until then pointed out.

"We're just Chunnin in this place," Nobu raised his shoulders carelessly. "We're not powerful enough to care about this, either..."

* * *

**A/N:** I have this thing where I plan the story beforehand and I end up more eager to write the ending than to write the present chapter. The good part is the last chapters are written, so I'll surely do end this story.


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